This invention relates to an umbrella holder and more particularly to an umbrella holder of the type which can be mounted against a wall for holding a collapsed umbrella and which includes means for collection and removal of water drips from the umbrella.
In the development of umbrellas, many efforts have been made to provide one, such as a telescopic umbrella, which can be collapsed to form a relatively small package when not in use, while rendering a good shelter when in an opened position. However, one of the outstanding problems is that when an umbrella retaining raindrops on its canopy covering material is brought indoors, water drips from the umbrella would cause wetting of the environment. The prior art has proposed various types of racks or holders for an umbrella to solve this problem, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 449,173 to Risdon and U.S. Pat. No. 2,028,337 to Lane and British Patent No. 319,636 to Bradshaw.
The umbrella-rack disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 449,173 is constructed of a back plate, side plates fixed thereto, a detachable drip-cup fitting in the recess at the lower end of the racks, enclosed by the back plates and side plates, and a sliding front plate seated in grooves in the side plates and made to drop down upon the overlap with its lower edge the upper front edge of the drip-cup. Since the drip-cup is enclosed by the back plates, the side plates and the slidable front plate, the user has to slide up the front plate in order to remove the drip-cup to be emptied. Therefore, it is apparent that the Risdon's umbrella-rack is not only complicated in structure, but also inconvenient in operation. In addition, the length of the Risdon's umbrella-rack cannot be adjusted, and the water collected in the drip-cup may splash back onto the umbrella especially when the rack is used in a moving vehicle.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,028,337 discloses an umbrella holder which can be completely folded in a self-contained unit. The construction of this umbrella holder is able to provide a convenient package when not in use, however, the interior cup serving either to collect water when in use or to contain the folded wall of the holder when not in use must have relatively large dimensions which causes the umbrella holder to be cumbersome. Also, the water collected in the cup may splash back onto the umbrella due to vibration, and the length of the umbrella holder can not be adjusted to various umbrellas.
The U.K. Patent No. 319,636 discloses an umbrella holder of the type comprising a hollow container having lugs for attachment to a support and provided at its base with a detachable cup or sump, and, carried within the detachable cup or sump is an absorbent pad or piece of spongy rubber. The U.K. Patent No. 319,636 does not teach a container telescopically adjustable to various umbrellas. Although the absorbent pad or piece of spongy rubber carried within the cup or the sump functions to prevent the collected water from splashing out, the absorbent pad or piece of spongy rubber should be removed to dry or be replaced after being wetted. This causes great inconvenience to user.